Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1887-10-15
PROHIBITION IN KANSAS.
SPIRITED LETTER FROM GOV.
ERNOR MARTIN.
His Views of the Law, and Its In
fiuences Upon the Prosperity
Of the State.

wTllteH ny bOVernOr martin OF Kansas, TO
w. II. Smith, General Manager of the As
ISOLATED Press, dated July 18th, concerning
special dispatch that was sent from St.
Joseph, Mo, July ID, to a Chicago paper.
The dispatch stated that the closing of sa-
looms in Atchison, Kan, had cut off most
profitable source of revenue, amounting to
thousands of dollars year, and as result
there was not enough to keep it going +;
that the police force, with the exception of
Marshal and one policeman, had been sus-
pended; that the services of the firemen
were to be dispensed with, and that the
gas and electric lights were to be shut off.
Governor Martin says;
The city of Atchison has been for many
years one of the most important railroad
and commercial centers of Kansas. 1t has
a population Of about $4,000 people If
the whisky interest could create the i'm
preston that Atchison had been materi-
ally injured because the saloons hal been
driven out of it, a serious blow would be
dealt to the temperance cause.
Atchison abolished the last of its saloons
in the fall of 1886. The whisky interests
prophesied that this action would seriously
injJTe the business of the city. 1t has had
no such effect. Atchison is more prosper
Gus to-day than it has been for years past.
Its wholesale trade aggregated over $40
100000 in 1886. All the principal streets
of the city are paved. More substantial
improvements are being made, and more
buildings are being erected in Atchison
this year than during any previous year in
its history. Ten important lines of rail
way center In the city, and the Southern
Kansas Railway has just extended its line
to Atchison. The central shops of the
Missouri Pacific road have recently been
located there. The largest lumber yard in
the West has recently been established
there, and many other important CONNER
cial and manufacturing industries have
been located there during the past six
months. Better than all, too hundreds of
thousands of dollars that were formerly
wasted in the saloons are now expended in
feeding and clothing and housing the peo-
pie, and as result thousands of wives and
children in Atchison who were living in
poverty few years ago are now prosper
Gus, happy and contented.
The prohibition amendment to our Con-
stitution was adopted in the autumn of
1880, and the first law to enforce it went
into effect in May, 1882 The war to
Danish saloons was for some years only par
tally successful. The amendment had
been adopted by very meagre majority,
and public sentiment in all our large cities
was overwhelmingly against it. As late
as january, 1885, saloons were open. in
fully thirty Of the larger cities of Kansas.
including Topeka, the Capital of the State.
But steadily and surely public sentiment
against them spread and intensified. The
small majority that had voted for the
was reinforced first by those
lawrespecting citizens who are always
willing to subordinate their personal opin-
ions to the majesty of the law, and second
by an equally large number who, observ-
ing the practical results following the
abolition of saloons in different cities and
towns, became convinced that Kansas
would be more prosperous, happy, and in
all respects better community of people
If 1t had not an open saloon within its
borders. So the sentiment of Kansas
against the liquor traffic has grown and
until to-day | very much
doubt whether of its 100000 male voters,
more than $4,000 would, if they could,
invite back and reinstate saloons.
One argument of the whisky interests
viz, that saloons promote the prosperity
and growth of communities, has been an
swered in Kansas by the convincing logic
of facts. In 1880 the population of
the State, as shown by the census,
was 996,096; in March, 1880, as shown by
the State census, it was 1,406,72S and it is
now fully 100000. In 1880 Kansas had
only 3,lO4 miles of railway within her
borders On the lst of March last the
State Board of Railroad Assessors reported
{, 20S miles for taxation, and from 600 to
800 miles will be added to this aggregate
before the close of the year. In 1889 the
assessed value of all the real and personal
of the State aggregated only
$50. On the first of March, 1886,
the total was, $277, 575 1868, and for the
present fiscal year the returns thus far re-
ceived indicated total of 10000, 0G0
In 1880 there were 5,153 school-houses,
2,5l4 churches and 347 newspapers in Kan
sas. There are now 1ully $500 school
houses, $500 churches and 700 newspapers.
In 1880 only 80 towns and cities had pop
ulationS in excess of 900 each. In 1887
more than POO towns have each over 200
fully % have each over 5000,
and fur have each over 10000. In 1880
only S,S6S, 900 acres were planted in crops.
This year the area planted is 100000
acres. In 1880 the value of the farm pro-
ducts of Kansas was only SS4, 521 900; for
1886 their value was over S264,000,00O.
For the fiscal year of 1880 the percent
age of State taxation was 5I mills for the
present fiscal year the total percentage
levied for all State purposes is only Al
mills. During the past two years and
half | have organized l. counties in the
western section of the State, and census
takers have been appointed for other
counties, leaving only two counties remain
ing to be organized. The cities and towns
of Kansas, with hardly an exception, have
kept pace in growth and prosperity with
this marvellous development of the State.
Many of them have doubled their popula-
ton during the past year, and it is re-
markable fact that several cities and towns
languished and stood still until they abol-
ished the saloons, and from that date to
the present time their growth and pros
perity has equaled, and in some instances
surpassed, that of other places with equal
natural advantages. Summing up, the
facts of the census refute and confound
those who assert that the material pros
perity of any community is promoted by
the presence of saloons. So far as Kansas
and all her cities and towns are concerned.
the reverse of this assertion is true. The
most wonderful era of prosperity, of ma
terial, moral and intellectual development,
of growth in country, cities and towns ever
witnessed on the American continent, has
been illustrated in Kansas during the past
two years, the period Of its most energetic
and complete enforcement.
Cross-Bred Wheat.
The Mark Lane Express and Agricuttural
Journal London, England, has the follow
ing;
We gave last wear detailed account of